Meet Sojourner Truth

Image by C. M. Tomlin via NationalGeographic.org

Welcome one, welcome all to my third blog post! It’s Erin with you here today. Today we’re going to interview a woman who was strong. She was brave. She was fearless, despite the fact that she was a slave in the North long after the Northern states passed their abolition laws. Who is this feisty female? It’s Isabella Freebaum, better known as the abolitionist Sojourner Truth! Let’s give her a round of applause, shall we? *cue applause*

Hullo Miz Hylands.

Please, no need for formalities here. Besides, you’re not a slave any longer.

Thatz true, Miz. Old habits die hard.

Tell us, Isabella, about your childhood. What was your childhood like?

Ah was born in t’ years before New Yawk passed the Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery. Basically, Ah was a slave whether Ah turned twenty-five or none. Mah childhood was a life a slavery. When Ah was nine, Ah was separated from mah parents and sold to John Kneely in New Yawk. Ah was worth in his eyes but a $100. Some time latuh Ah was told tuh Martinus Schryver and even latuh to John Dumont. Ah was nearly thirty at this point. This man was the one Ah needed to run from.

Why did you need to run from him?

His wife, Elizabeth, harassed me b’cuz of her husband’s uncanny interest in me. He-He stole my purity. *wipes tear* This resulted in mah daughter, Diana, being born. Ah married mah husband, Thomas, and we had three children tahgethah. John Dumont promised to free me, and he did not. So, Ah took my youngest child, lil Sophia, and fled.

I’m so sorry to hear this! Where did you flee?

Ah and mah baby fled to Isaac and Maria Van Wagenen In New Paltz, New Yawk. They paid John Dumont for mah labor until I legally was emancipated. Ah then worked to emancipate my son who had been sold Deep South. I joined the abolitionist and women’s rights movement under the name Sojourner Truth. Even though I was a penniless former slave, Ah sued to reclaim my baby boy. I won, against all odds. This made me the first African-American to win a case against a white man.

Wow! That’s incredible! What made you such a powerful, feisty female?

Ah’ve been told it’s my charisma and spell-binding speeches. But Ah truly believe that it is mah faith in God my Father that has brung me this far. My friends, Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, and Harriet Beecher Stowe all encouraged me during my journey from slave to freewoman to abolitionist.

You’re story is absolutely incredible! What is one piece of advice you want to offer our readers?

Ain’t Ah a woman? Ain’t Ah free?

And there you have it! This is the story of how one woman changed the course of history with her words and her story. This woman, Sojourner Truth, is such a feisty female. Thank you for your time, Isabella! Let’s give this feisty female one more round of applause. *cue applause*

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Bibliography

Nalle, Julia, and Rob Nalle. “Chapter 32: The Abolitionist Movement; the Boers in South Africa.” The Biblioplan Companion Year 3, vol. 2, Biblioplan, Palmyra, VA, 2014, pp. 792-793.

“Sojourner Truth (U.S. National Park Service).” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 29 May 2022, https://www.nps.gov/people/sojourner-truth.htm.